


The Masks We Wear

by afinch



Category: Mascarade (Card Game)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-22
Updated: 2017-10-22
Packaged: 2019-01-21 13:19:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12458604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afinch/pseuds/afinch
Summary: Nobody is who they claim to be, as they all make claims with the goal of securing their fortunes.





	The Masks We Wear

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Filigranka](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Filigranka/gifts).



> For this, I used the Dutch translation of the character types.  
> Bishop - Piispa  
> Fool - Typerys  
> Judge - Tuomari  
> Queen - Gatar  
> King - Kunin  
> Witch - Noita  
> Thief - Varas  
> Widow - Weduwe  
> Cheat - Bedriegen  
> Peasant - Boer  
> Spy - Spion

Varas the thief clutched his eight coins and worked his way towards the crowd. He was after Gatar and her gold, but if anyone else near to her had glittering coins as well, like her husband, Kunin, he would happily relieve them as well. As long as Noita wasn't in sight, he would be safe. Noita would disguise herself as any mean of things, that witch, and she would steal his fortune and replace it with her own. She'd had one, as of late, after pretending to be Piispa, and claiming coins from Kunin and Gatar. He'd rooted her out and she'd paid her fine to the court. Tuomari had been absent, as Judge, she should claim the fee, but she'd been nowhere as of late. Varas had been tempted to claim to be him, but Gatar was an easier target. At twelve coin, she was the envy of all in the kingdom. She had more coin than even her husband, who only had nine. Tuomari would have gained him just one coin, but if he could take from Gatar, he could take from more than just her … but also prevent her from the security she was desperately seeking. Yes, even if he could claim to be Tuomari without challenge, it was better to wait and stop Gatar.

*

Gatar thought the whole crowd gathering was absurd. It was only an opportunity for someone to come rob her. Her chief suspect? None other than her husband the King. He didn't like being overshadowed by his wife. But she wasn't the beloved Queen for nothing. Her royal subjects loved her. It was the others who hated her, who wanted only what she had taken great pains to earn. She had twelve coin and would only rest when she had thirteen. Thirteen would ensure her financial security for life. The only way to avoid trouble with the kingdom would be to take what was due Tuomari. She marched off to the Courthouse.

"I am Mari, and I've come to collect what's on the board," Gatar said, her voice confident.

*

Piispa watched with horror as Mari came through the door to claim what was on the board. He had only moments before disguised himself to enter as the Judge to claim the coin on the board. He had eight coin himself, but he was worried about those closer to financial immortality. He would prevent it at any cost, even if it meant exposing himself. 

"I must protest," he shouted. "For I am Mari, the Judge."

"You _bastard_ ," said Gatar, as she angrily pulled out the papers that proved her to be the Queen. "And who are you then? You're not really Mari."

He shrugged, and mock-bowed to her, "I am Piispa."

"Ugh, the Bishop?! Fuck, fine. Here, take my punishment for false portrayal," Gatar snapped, throwing a coin to the courthouse guardian. "You owe too," she grumbled at Piispa.

He shrugged again, and tossed a coin into the Courthouse board, "Whatever. As long as it keeps you from winning."

"Like you're going to win," Gatar said, scowling. She stomped off back towards the Castle, muttering something about her stupid subjects.

*

Typerys had decided the evening hadn't had enough entertainment. Sure, Noita had managed to lose everything after preventing Varas from thirteen coin, but Varas was sly, as thieves are, and had climbed back up to six. He'd be back at nine or ten in no time, knowing him. Piispa had just sacrificed himself and some of his coin, to prevent Gatar from gaining everything. She may have been loved by the proles who served her, but those in the know would do anything to prevent her victory. 

"Let's make this interesting," he said to the crowd of people. "For I've just switched papers with the Queen." Though not fortunes, unfortunately. 

The Queen - now with papers as the Fool - glared at him. He shrugged. He hoped he'd switched them correctly. He was the fool, but she thought herself ruined to the fool, which gave him a certain power, did it not? Now the papers would say the Queen only had nine coin and that the Fool had eleven. Or was it the other way around? Typerys' hands got sweaty. He'd surely shifted them correctly, hadn't he?

"Should make things more interesting, don't you think?" he asked the crowd. Now everyone was glaring at him.

*

"He's not the only one switched papers," said another, and a groan emerged from the crowd. "Two more papers swapped. _Now_ it's interesting."

"Come on," said another, "We've been at this for too long." He had one coin in front of him. "I'm Weduwe."

Nobody said anything. "Oh, come on," said the man claiming to be Weduwe. "Seriously?"

"You're the only person unhappy with gaining fortune," said Varas. His strategy had shifted, in this crowd of missing papers and slipups. He was certain the Queen still held her proper papers, and it was her she was still after. He held his face passive, though, and watched what the crowd would do. The fortune was there, and he still had ideas to take it, if nobody messed it up first. The only who could would be Noita, and like Tuomari, wasn't anywhere in sight. More papers shifted, quickly, in the next two minutes, as it became apparent that nobody wanted anyone to be sure of anything. Still, Noita hadn't messed things up, and he still had his papers proving his identity. Gatar's gold would be his, and so would Kunin's.

Weduwe - or the man claiming to be her, frowned over his stack of coins. "Where's Bedriegen? Come and get it, free for the taking."

"Nobody's going to just let the Cheat take everything from you," a kind woman said. "Now, it's my turn, yea? I'm Kunin. Anyone want to challenge that?" Nobody said anything and she plucked her three coin from the bank, bringing herself to twelve. 

*

Gatar's heart sank. Her husband - or the woman claiming to be him - had just surpassed her in fortune and was now one coin away from everything she'd worked so hard at. She couldn't have challenged the claim, she'd taken the time while everyone else was shuffling things around to verify her papers; she was still holding the papers of the Queen. She just needed things to calm down enough to come to her, and then she would be fine. She'd show up at the bank, claim her two coin, and would get away from these ungrateful, lying subjects. She'd take all the fortunes then, and leave them to -

"What are you doing?" she demanded of a young man in front of her, his hands deep into her purse, plucking out her papers. "What the fuck, I just looked, come on." He looked at her papers, then the papers he was holding in his hands. 

He laughed, "Well, that's just how it goes when you're Spion. Here, have your papers back."

But she couldn't be certain the spy had actually given her the right papers back. She glared at the man who had last pretended to be Piispa, "This is all your fault."

"I'm not the one who tried to claim to be Tuomari," said the man. "You didn't really think you weren't going to get called out on that?"

"I thought we were ready to be done with this," she started, but she was interrupted.

"You could have stopped it when I claimed to be Weduwe," he said. "But you wouldn't have-"

"I know," she snapped. "I get it. Whatever. Who's going to throw things all to hell now?"

*

Boer knew it was now or never. There had been some shuffling of papers on Typerys' end - fools were only good for one thing, apparently, but he had the advantage. He knew he was still himself. He walked into the bank and very quietly, but politely, asked for the coin owed to him. He might have been a lowly Peasant, but he'd managed to amass a fortune quietly, first by calling out when Noita had claimed to be Tuomari and being surprised by holding the papers for Tuomari himself, and then by sitting back quietly and keeping track of the Peasant papers. Unlike the others, the Peasant papers were two, and easier to track. Three times now he'd claimed to be who he was, and had only been challenged on it once. 

"I don't think so," said Kunin, or the woman claiming to be him. "Or, rather, I'm actually Boer myself."

The crowd fell into a deadly silence, with tensions suddenly high. Nobody had taken claim to Kunin, which they were realizing now may have been a serious and deadly error. 

"Oh hell," said Weduwe, "Just for screwing me over earlier, I'm Boer too."

Typerys breathed a sigh of relief, "Good. Now I don't have to. Anyone else want to challenge?"

Boer held his papers tightly. One coin was well enough, but two would put him at ten, and in the running for financial security. He knew he'd get at least one, so he showed his papers.

"Enjoy that coin because-" the Kunin-impersonator flipped her papers, revealing herself to be Noita. "Dammit," she hissed. "Curse all of you, godammit." She threw her hands up in resignation, poking at her coin. She looked defeated. She had been, just moments before, so certain, so ready to crow with her pile of riches and now ...

Weduwe flipped her papers, revealing herself to actually be Weduwe, much to his surprise. "Well, shit, I wouldn't have ended it even if I wanted to." He tossed one of his fortune into the courthouse board, grumbling. Noita followed suit, looking anxiously around the room. She'd done some trickery and messed it up somewhere and was scanning all of their faces, trying to figure out where she'd messed it up.

*

Varas let this play out, silently, waiting for a time to speak. Gatar was still to his left, but he sweetly took the coin from the woman next to him, an unknown at this point, but still with a fortune of ten. Now she was down to nine, and Gatar, her fortune dwindling more, down to ten once he'd plucked one from her glittering stacks. He'd had ten now, and could feel the excitement growing. So far he'd been sliding under the radar, as everyone raced to steal either Gatar's papers, or her gold. It was odd that Noita had managed to fool everyone into thinking her the King, even if she had thought herself Boer, but perhaps such was the desire for everyone to be certain of what they were holding, they didn't dare risk challenging it. He breathed a sigh of relief as nobody challenged his thievery. One more turn, he thought, and all the gold would be his, and he would be victorious. Just one more turn.

But then he noticed the woman he'd just stolen from make her way into the courthouse.

"I'll take what's on the board," she said. "Enough of pretending. I'm Mari, the Judge."

*

She drummed her fingers on the table, bored of the antics. She'd been bored since this whole thing had started. Sure, it had been exciting at first, once the first set of papers had switched hands, but then it became obvious that those who were after the gold would do so at any cost, and those trying to game the system by guaranteeing their papers first were increasingly stymied by those seeking gold at any cost, and then there were the risk-takers, who won and lost fortunes in the blink of an eye. Poor Gatar, though. She'd come so close, so many times, only to have it yanked back from her every time. Even when she'd kept the papers that proved her to be Gatar, it seemed Varas or Spion was right there to make sure she couldn't make too many claims herself. Everyone thought holding the papers of Gatar or Kunin was the clincher, but she knew better. She knew the ace was biding your time while others on the threshold of victory were dealt back brutally by those who would prevent their victory even at the cost of their own purse. And to be Tuomari once the dust had settled.

"Fuck," said the man next to her. "I was ready to go on the next turn."

"Is anyone going to challenge me, or do I just get it outright?"

"Ah," said Typerys. "I suppose we can't have that. I'll do it." It was suicide on his part, but it didn't matter. The sly gleam in her eyes told them all she had been patiently playing her cards right. 

She shrugged, and slid her papers over with one hand, taking the coin from the board with the other. "Five coin from the board and … eight in hand …"

"Yea, yea, grumbled Typerys. "Nobody was paying attention because you only had eight. I thought Varas was Tuomari after Piispa wasn't."

"Well, I swapped with Kunin, and was so close to winning," pouted the man next to Tuomari. He flipped his paper over to reveal Bedriegen and shoved his stack of ten coin into the bank. "Well-played," he muttered to Tuomari.

"And you thought I wasn't having fun," Mari said. No matter if she had been or not (she hadn't). It was over and done with. She had financial immunity, and they were all in ruins.

*

Varas returned his coin to the bank, utterly penniless now. He had been so caught up in Gatar, he hadn't noticed that the board had grown as large as it had - and in such short order, too. He watched the glittering gold of Gatar slide into the bank, followed by Noita's, and the rest followed. Typerys seemed content with what had happened, such was his lot in life - a fool could be content with making others miserable, after all - and Spion looked bemused at how the ending had transpired. Piispa looked annoyed. Several of the others looked relieved that the long night had finally ended. 

As for Varas, he shiftily looked around the room, plotting his next conquest. It was said they were off to settle the land of Catan next, and he could thieve his way to riches there as well. 

In time he would have his gold. 

Patience, dear grasshopper, patience.


End file.
